Comments on: Fuzzy picture for Apple TV

Not everything Apple put out this year was a success. Of course, Apple TV is just the latest product to enter a category that has yet to catch on: linking a PC to a TV.

[Penguinisto]

*shrug* why would I want one?

A Mac Mini (or my current el-cheapo rig of a small PC + Linux + MythTV + vidcap card + HUGE hard disk) would work just fine w/o the expense of some specialized gear just for watching television.

Same goes for Windows MCE... no need for the DRM, the price tag, the bog and bloat, or the EULA-from-Hell just to I can watch some video files.

Meh... little wonder nobody's made any real dough off of such a market - those in the know have already built their rig, and who who are not won't bother (or they'll just plug in their PC through the handy VGA input plug on the back of most HDTV rigs).

/P

/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

Too true. No real market demand

I have a MCE box that does all that Penguinisto's linux box does as well. No DRM issues as I rip my own music, record what shows I want, rip DVO's if I want, etc. And now with Ultimate, it talks to other devices and streams over the home network or even to a machine at my job if I so choose.

There are plenty of cheaper options that offer more. If the Apple TV had offered recording as an option and an ability to buy content directly from the net, then they could have had a product with more mass market appeal.

[reservoirdogz2007]

Online Video Indexes

I find that online video site indexes/searches like ovguide.com
provide users with a more "open" architecture to find the best
online videos not only for their computer- but on their TVs as well
with so many cheap and easy ways to connect new TV's to
computers.

[lindsayhough]

Apple TV- a misnomer

I think this article overlooks a completely relevant app for A-TV and that is the ability to link i-tunes with your home stereo. I have been ripping my CD collection and planning on buying the A-TV for the wireless link to the home stereo. Even the name "apple-tv" makes it sound like it is for video. Arent people doing this?

[Norseman]

If all you want to do is wireless audio...

...get yourself an Airport Express and save a whole lot of money. ATV would be tremendous overkill for audio only.

[Ferlauto]

Apple TV Needs To Record Shows (among other things)

It is simply too limited in features for anyone one to buy it.

The proven product that everyone wants to attach to their television is TiVO. People don't want to buy that rerun of "Seinfeld" or "Law & Order," they want to record it (for free), just as they can with a TiVO and as some people did with their old VCR.

Beyond that, they need support for 1080p resolution (a.k.a. "Full HD") and a few other things; but recording is the "killer app" when it comes television appliances.

[Norseman]

ATV isn't meant to compete with TIVO

It's meant to supplement it. TIVO gets content from cable. ATV gets content from the internet. A lot of people already have TIVO (or a DVR of some kind). ATV really can be considered a recorder, but for stuff that comes through your computer, not cable.

[gspat]

The defining product in this category - "XBMC" on XBOX1

For the ten minutes it takes to convert an old xbox to run the XBOX Media Center, it is an extreme bargain at the $50 - $70 they now cost. It will play anything except for HD x264 and unlike apple TV, also has the ability to play DVDs with it's built-in DVD drive.

Before anyone gets any dumb ideas about piracy and the such, I do NOT advocate anything of the such, only good uses for end-of-run products. There is really nothing stopping you from doing the exact same thing with an apple TV either.

[DrtyDogg]

Have to agree

I pulled my media center pc out of the living room the minute I set up my XBMC. They say the best things in life are free, and I've gotta agree with them there.

[go_live]

Vudu.com

This is what Apple should have done.

[cjohn17]

VUDU is Pointless & Disappointing

VUDU has some really serious content issues - of the 5,000
advertised titles there's little to rent. Their movie library if filled
with titles one would find on a Hong Kong street corner or flea
market. Laughable, amateurish, appalling movies that look like
they're been shot in someone's basement. Much of the catalog is
purchase only. New releases are not available to rent for 3-4
weeks, if ever. Quite a few older titles that have been staples at
Blockbuster, or gathering dust at a the local supermarket, are
purchase only.

VUDU moderators are blocking forum posts critical of the
product.

"Vudu relies on a peer-to-peer network system for faster
downloading. So, essentially, this company is using your
bandwidth to help it save money it would have otherwise spent
on its own servers and bandwidth." - Walt Mossberg, WSJ

"Plenty of the movies are pure filler. They range from no-name
horror cheapies (?San Franpsycho? or ?Night Fangs,? anyone?) to
superniche flicks like ?The History of Texas Longhorns Football?
and ?Yoga for Depression and Gastro-Intestinal Disorders.?

Another reason: Vudu?s catalog is a victim of what Hollywood
calls distribution windows. After a movie leaves theaters, it
becomes available through other channels in a strict order: (1)
hotels and airlines; (2) DVD; (3) pay-per-view television; (4)
movie channels like HBO and Starz; (5) TV and everywhere else."
- David Pogue, NYTimes

"The average consumer, as long as he or she doesn't have true
control over downloads thanks to technology such as digital
rights management, is going to have a hard time justifying an
expensive set-top box when it has neither the channel-surfing
capabilities of a TiVo digital video recorder nor the low to
nonexistent price of a DVR provided by a cable television
company." - ZDNet

"That doesn't count for much when you can't get "the right
movie, right now". The studios don't want to rent new releases,
because they make more off sales... VUDU sucks and there is no
reason to believe they will get better." - "Name Withheld by
Request", User Experience Architect, VUDU Inc. 11/24/07

My extended review:
http://theillustratedconservative.blogspot.com/2007/11/vudu-
pointless-disappointing.html

[McDaveH]

AppleTV coming of age?

We've heard it all before! Walled gardens, limited functionality blah, blah, blah. The hackers wanted to open AppleTV to play their stolen content (as no legal outlet was or is selling DivX/Xvid content) a problem that iTunes always could solve with a right or control-click anyway.

But that was then and this is now. The world has woken up to H.264 and the pirate networks are seething with MPEG-4/AVC content. Download, drag-n-drop (or Xtorrent will drop it directly into iTunes) and watch it in HiDef on your AppleTV!!

Happy viewing, McD

[NeenaCh]

Apple TV

I have one and I have to say I love it. The quality is great. Only drawback, it does not play the Music Videos one after the other and I have to manually do that which is a huge pain. Video quality is fab!

[skellener]

The quality is great?

I've seen the quality at The Apple Store on their own Sony displays and it's absolutely horrible. Try watching an actual HD movie from and XBOX 360 download or off one of the HD disc formats and you'll never look at an AppleTV ever again. The quality of really pretty crappy when you see what else is out there.

[maeckg]

Netflix the better TV

We have to applaud Apple for offering a product to let average consumers have more choice and leverage the internet. Limited and flawed as it is, it is a step in the right direction. Set top boxes are just control devices to maximixe profits. Given Steve Job's connections to content at Disney, that may well be the fate of Apple TV. MS Mediacenter is too PC centric for a lot of users which is where HP, Dell and Acer might make another attempt.
The real crux is the fear and control of the cable, satellite and content companies that charge consumers for watching advertising, unwanted channels and crappy programming. The guy who cancelled cable after buying an Apple TV gets it. The internet can offer real choice, which is why I am more satisfied with Netflix than cable. It has 90000 titles with 5000 (less current) for online viewing while cable seems to show the same 900 movies over and over. It has gotten better, but I am hoping the online offerings will get better although I live near a post office so the DVD mailing is not such a hassle. Important is that I watch what I want when I want, no adverts, just a subscription. A box like Apple TV could stream it over my home network, but there are other solutions.
Like I said, Apple TV is a beginning, but needs to be open to different sources and formats like Myth TV.

[SpiritWater]

Hears the Apple TV 2.0 that is coming in January 2008

As the article stated, free content might be compelling. Put Safari on there and sell an Apple branded keyboard made specifically for the Apple TV with a trackpad or roller ball built-in.

The iTunes Wi-Fi store should also be made available on Apple TV.

Apple needs to also buy Elgato and integrate the EyeTV into the Apple TV.

Lastly, if they strike a deal with Netflix to rent movies through the Apple TV that would also be a major hit.

That's 4 improvements that would make the Apple TV a better player. Plus, lower the price of the devices by $100. ;-)

Break the Wedge
www.breakthewedge.com

[skellener]

Two things are right, I doubt the rest of it....

Well, the BT keyboard already exists. They just need the BT module in the AppleTV.

Yes, the iTunes Store MUST be on AppleTV in Jan.

Apple will NEVER offer DVR functionality. Why allow you to record for free what they can charge you $2 for to download? Recording TV is not their model. It will never happen.

Apple will offer its own rentals if they do it. They do not need Netflix for that. They already have movies to offer. They just need the rental attributes to be introduced.

The truth is, that unless Apple offers HD content in January, the AppleTV is dead. They must compete with HD disc media. XBOX 360 already offers this. They could entice people by adding a disc player to the AppleTV. Either standard DVD player for those with large libraries of DVDs (no one is going to rip and convert a library of 200-400 DVDs just to watch them on their AppleTV) or they me be bold and offer one of the HD disc formats. That would be very interesting, but it could be a conflict of interest.

They NEED HD content on iTunes period. It's a year late as it is.

[pierce200]

APPLE TV

Television must have nothing to do with your computer.
It truly is that simple.

[skellener]

Well...

In 1998 that was true. In 2007 it ain't all that cut and dry. Lots of people use both together and that number is only going to grow.

[charlesinbanff]

advertisements per hour

I enjoyed this article. It is very insightful.

There is one minor point I found misleading.

"Still, Crotty made an interesting point on that score. "Do the math: there's 6 minutes of commercials (on a 30-minute show).

I had to laugh at that comment. It is so dated. The 12 minute rule per hour of ads no longer applies to television.

In the USA and soon in Canada, unless you are watching PBS or pay-per-view TV, you are likely watching 15 to 20 minutes per hour of commercials.

One of the reasons more people are accessing our news, information, and gradually our entertainment is to gain control of our time and watch what we want when we want.

If is kind of more than annoying to waste 1 of every 3 minutes watching ads, the few people who still watch live television. The rest of remaining viewers are recording shows on Tivo or VCRs and holding down button the fast forward button thru ads.

The more networks put commercials on per hour, the less inclinded I am to watch television.


CRTC approves more TV ads
source: CBC News, 17 May 2007

"Currently, broadcasters can show up to 12 minutes of advertising per hour, including segments promoting programs in their lineups.

"As of 1 September 2007, this will increase to a maximum of 14 minutes of advertising in prime time ? between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.

"A year later, the limit will increase to 15 minutes across all time periods. As of September 2008, all advertising time restrictions will be lifted. The CRTC will review the impact of these increased ad times.

"The Commission considers it essential that [over-the-air] broadcasters have the flexibility to maximize advertising revenues to respond to the negative impact of audience fragmentation," according to a statement from the regulator issued Tuesday.